Coffs Harbour
Sat Feb 11, 7:00pm
Late Changes
There wre no late changes.
LOSS 14-22
The South Sydney Rabbitohs turned in a solid performance against the New Zealand Warriors at BCU International Stadium in Coffs Harbour tonight (Saturday), going down 22 points to 14 in front of 5,376 Members and supporters. Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei's two tries helped propel the visitors in the third quarter, but the Rabbitohs mounted a late charge to go close to stealing the trial match victory. Despite cyclonic conditions about 90 minutes before kick off, the weather cleared and the Warriors were the first to score through Simon Mannering. He slid through the Rabbitohs left-side defence to score after just four minutes of play. James Maloney converted to give the Warriors a six-nil lead. The Warriors dominated possession for the first 15 minutes, but the tide started turn late in the first quarter. The Rabbitohs started to mount some pressure and that pressure would eventually lead to points. It was Dave Taylor who would breach the Warriors' line following an offload from centre Shaune Corrigan. The Rabbitohs went into the first break two points down with the momentum turning in their favour. The second quarter was a battle up the middle. Sam Burgess entered the play for the first time in about ten months and made an immediate impact, running over the top of smaller opponent Shaun Johnson and repeating the dose on hooker Nathan Friend later in the quarter. Michael Crocker and Roy Asotasi led the way in defence, which was forcing some errors from the Warriors who were visibly tiring at the back end of the quarter. The Rabbitohs had the better of possession and field position, but could not get across the line for points. The scores remained at 6-4 at the half time break. The start to the second half was similar to the previous quarter with defence ruling the play. Rabbitohs prop Luke Burgess rocked Russel Packer with a big hit that lifted his side but the Warriors would be the first to score through rookie centre Konrad Hurrel in the 46th minute. It was the first of three third-quarter tries to the Warriors' left side attack, with Manu Vatuvei scoring a double in the 50th and 55th minutes, the first from a grabber kick in behind the line and the second the result of a 50 metre break down the left flank. Johnson converted two of the three tries to set up a 22-4 lead after 60 minutes in favour of the Warriors. The Warriors were dominating possession again and it showed with their flurry of points in the third quarter. The Rabbitohs opened their shoulders in the final quarter with rookie fullback Kurt French scoring a try in the 64th minute of play. Big Dave Taylor used his size to draw in, and hold off, three defenders before offloading a pass to Blake Judd. Judd took off down the left hand flank, making a long bust before drawing the fullback and putting French away for the four pointer. Fourth-quarter halfback Dylan Farrell added the extras to reduce the deficit to 12. With ten minutes remaining the Rabbitohs looked the fitter of the two sides with a number of the Warriors players feeling the effects of the up-tempo football the Rabbitohs were playing. The fatigue was causing errors, giving the Rabbitohs the possession they craved in the third stanza but did not receive. With three minutes left on the clock, rookie winger Andrew Everingham scored in the left hand corner after a nice shift from five-eighth John Sutton to French, who threw a deft cut out pass to Everingham who put his head down for the corner to score. Farrell's conversion was waved away, with the full time hooter sounding to give the Warriors a 22-14 win. Two of the Rabbitohs' leaders were particularly impressive in defence tonight, with Michael Crocker and Roy Asotasi leading the way in the middle of the ruck. Sam Burgess made a successful comeback, and young tyros such as Nathan Peats and Jason Clark also worked hard. Kurt French impressed at the back after being given the opportunity to play plenty of minutes, and all of the halves contenders had the opportunity to test out combinations in the lead up to round one. Rabbitohs Head Coach Michael Maguire said after the game: "There were some pleasing things out there tonight. "There were a number of players out there that put their hands up and put their body on the line. "We're going to get a lot out of that and improve on what we showed there. "I rolled a number of players around in different positions and it's given me a good chance to have a look at where we're heading. "I've thrown a hell of a lot into them over the past two or three months and we're starting to show that now and we're only going to improve. "I'll look at the videos again (of the potential halves) and it will be the same next week in the Charity Shield. I'll have a look there and see which way I want to go. "I think all of them put their hands up and it will be a tough decision for me when it comes down to it. "(Nathan Peats) went really well and he works really hard for the team. He can play hooker or back row so it gives us a good opportunity there to roll people around if need be. "We can now sit down as a group and go over everything that happened in the game and the things we've worked on over the past few months and try and improve on that for next week."
3 min 0-6 19 min 4-6 45 min 4-12 50 min 4-16 55 min 4-22 62 min 10-22 77 min 14-22 Taylor, French, Everingham tries Farrell 1 from 2, Reynolds 0 from 1 goals Crowd 5,376 Referee Phil Haines / Henry Perenara Penalities 7-6 Scrums 9-4 Other FG Matches 18-18 PMcQ Newcastle d Penrith 20-12 Gosf Wests-Tig b Parramatta 27-18 Albu Canberra b Melbourne 18-16 Redc Gold Coast b Brisbane 18-12 Prth Nth Qld b St Geo-Ill 28-16 Belm Sydney b Canterbury
Judiciary News
No one was charged out of the match.
NYC U20 Trial
v Cronulla-Sutherland
Sun Feb 11, Erskensville Oval 4:00pm
WIN 22-14
In the under 20s trial match, the Souths Sydney Rabbitohs defeated the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 22 points to 14 at Erskineville Oval. Halfback Luke Keary turned in a terrific performance with Blake Matthews, Andrew Artemi and Apisai Koroisau making solid contributions to the win.
40 min 10-8 Hedley, Koroisau tries goals
NSW Cup Trial
v Cronulla-Sutherland, Erko Sat Feb 11 6:00pm
LOSS 0-80
Nichols and Molan were late withdrawals, Leslie captained teh team. The North Sydney Bears held a open trial for Bears squad members. The trial was played without the Souths squad members.
45 min 0-46 no tries no goalsNSWRL U18 SG Ball Rd1
v Western Suburbs, Erko, Sat Feb 11 12:30pm
WIN 64-0
6-0
15 min 12-0
35 min 26-0
46-0
A.Johsnston 3, J.Delpardo 3, C.Hazzard 2, K.Saena 2, T.Phillips, Z.Walsh tries
D.Walker 8 goals
Other U18 Matches
22-10 Penr Penrith b Newcastle
18-18 Koga St George d Melbourne
44-28 Seif Manly b Canberra
34-26 WWoy Cronulla b C Coast
20-14 Prth Norths b Wstrn Aust
44-12 SMry Balmain b WSyd Acad
40-28 Belm Sydney b Canterbury
30-24 Koga Parramatta b Illawarra
W D L Diff PT
SOUTHS 1 - - +64 2
BALMAIN 1 - - +32 2
MANLY 1 - - +16 2
PENRITH 1 - - +12 2
SYDNEY 1 - - +12 2
CRONULLA 1 - - +8 2
PARRAMATTA 1 - - +6 2
NORTHS 1 - - +6 2
Melbourne - 1 - - 1
St George - 1 - - 1
Illawarra - - 1 -6 -
W Australia - - 1 -6 -
Central Coast - - 1 -8 -
Canterbury - - 1 -12 -
Newcastle - - 1 -12 -
Canberra - - 1 -16 -
W Syd Academy - - 1 -32 -
Wests - - 1 -64 -
NSWRL U16 Matthews Rd1
v Western Suburbs, 11:00am
WIN 18-12
S.Talaksi, T.Fernandez, M.Butcher tries
S.Talaksi goal
Other U16 Matches
38-6 Penr Penrith b Newcastle
48-6 Koga St George b SWSyd Acad
40-22 Seif Manly b Canberra
20-4 WWoy C Coast b Cronulla
34-20 SMry Balmain b WSyd Acad
50-6 Belm Canterbury b Sydney
28-22 Woll Parramatta b Illawarra
W D L B Diff PT
CANTERBURY 1 - - - +44 2
ST GEORGE 1 - - - +42 2
PENRITH 1 - - - +32 2
MANLY 1 - - - +18 2
CENTRAL COAST 1 - - - +16 2
BALMAIN 1 - - - +14 2
PARRAMATTA 1 - - - +6 2
SOUTHS 1 - - - +6 2
Norths - - - 1 - 2
Illawarra - - 1 - -6 -
Wests - - 1 - -6 -
W Syd Academy - - 1 - -14 -
Cronulla - - 1 - -16 -
Canberra - - 1 - -18 -
Newcastle - - 1 - -32 -
SWSyd Academy - - 1 - -42 -
Sydney - - 1 - -44 -